Katherine Pulaski
Commander Katherine Pulaski MD was a Starfleet physician whose myriad Starfleet experience included stints on starships, starbases and research facilities. She is perhaps best known for her brief stint as chief medical officer of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) in 2365. Family Pulaski must have at least one sibling, for she has a nephew who also serves in starfleet; Wes Pulaski (''ST'' game: Away Team). She is known to have been married three times by 2365. One of her husbands was Bajoran (TNG novel: Double Helix: Vectors) Early Career Pulaski did her internship in 2335 on planet Chaquafar (TNG novel A Call to Darkness). Pulaski was assigned to Starfleet Medical in San Francisco in 2353 when she first met Kyle Riker. Pulaski oversaw Riker's rehabilitation after he was severly injured by a Tholian attack on Starbase 311. Pulaski and Riker became romantically involved in an intense relationship that lasted just over a year. (''TLE'' novel: Deny Thy Father) Following her relationship with Riker, Pulaski married three times, including the Bajoran doctor, Kellec Ton (TNG novel: Vectors), and Starfleet officer Brian Anderson. (TNG short story: "Calculated Risk") All three marriages ended in divorce; however, Pulaski maintained close friendships with all of her former husbands. In the year 2358, Pulaski became the CMO of the USS Repulse, under Captain Taggert. Taggert thought very highly of Pulaski, and informed her that she would always have a home on the Repulse. Nevertheless, when the opportunity to serve on the fleets flagship, the USS Enterprise, Pulaski jumped at the chance. (computer game: Starship Creator: Warp) ''Enterprise'' Pulaski served as CMO of the Enterprise under Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the year 2365 when the ship's previous CMO, Beverly Crusher, was given the position of Head of Starfleet Medical. (Star Trek: The Next Generation season two.) Early on in Pulaski's stint as Enterprise CMO, she made private arrangements with a visiting Klingon dignitary, the Honorable Kobry, to automatically pronounce him dead if he were ever attacked in order to forestall any further attacks upon him. After Kobry was indeed attacked, Pulaski did as Kobry asked of her, and even defended her sickbay when Kobry's attacker, the renegade Klingon Tron, burst into the room demanding treatment. (''TNG'' novel: Strike Zone) When Crusher returned to the Enterprise in 2366, Pulaski was expecting to go to Deep Space 5 to await her new posting. Her plans changed when the returning Crusher gave Pulaski an assignment from Starfleet Medical to get in touch with one of her former husbands, Kellec Ton, in order to supply Starfleet Medical with information about a medical crisis in the Cardassian occupied Bajoran sector. After the communication with Ton, Starfleet Medical obtained permission from the Cardassian prefect of the Bajoran sector, Gul Skrain Dukat, for Pulaski to lead a small medical team to research the unknown disease on the Terok Nor space station. Pulaski's researchers eventually identified the strange malady as a variation of the Double Helix virus that was designed to jump between the various species inhabiting the station. With the identification of the disease, Pulaski was able to develop a cure before the Terok Nor station was destroyed to prevent further outbreak. (''TNG'' novel: Double Helix: Vectors) Later Assignments Following the Bajoran mission, Pulaski received orders to return to the Repulse, this time under the command of the original Captain Taggert's daughter, Captain Ariel Taggert. Pulaski was on board the Repulse in 2367 when that ship, the Enterprise and the USS Chekov took part in a three-way battle between Starfleet, the Borg, and an ancient alien Doomsday machine. (TNG novel: Vendetta) In 2368, Pulaski served as CMO aboard a medical ship, the [[USS Debakey|USS Debakey]]. During that mission, she was called upon to cure a romance-inducing pathogen discovered on Cyngus IV. (TNG short story: "Calculated Risk") Pulaski later served on the [[USS Progress|USS Progress]] under Captain David Gold, until that vessel's decommisioning in early 2370. From the Progress, Pulaski transferred to the newly commisioned Drema Station in orbit of Drema IV. (''SCE'' eBook: Progress) By late 2370, Pulaski was again serving on the Repulse. (TNG novelization: All Good Things...) By 2376, Pulaski was serving at the research facility known as the Phlox Institute. She was still serving there in late 2379, when she attended the wedding of former Enterprise shipmates William T. Riker and Deanna Troi. (SCE eBook: Progress, TNG novel A Time for War, A Time for Peace) Pulaski, Katherine Pulaski, Katherine Pulaski, Katherine Pulaski, Katherine Pulaski, Katherine